Hampton Bays Fire Department Parade could cause delays tomorrow evening

If Texas lawmakers follow through on President Trump’s call to redraw state congressional maps to help the Republican Party, New York leaders say they want to be ready to respond in kind.

Benjamin Oreskes reports in THE NY TIMES that Democrats in the NYS Assembly and Senate will introduce a bill today that would allow New York to redraw its own congressional lines mid-decade — instead of every 10 years, linked to the U.S. census — if another state does so first.

“Republicans have made it clear that they will stop at nothing to use this process to advance their political agenda,” said State Senator Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader sponsoring the bill in the Senate. “If other states are going to do this, we shouldn’t stand by and watch the Congress be lost.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has cited “constitutional concerns” in his call for Texas to draw new lines, but the actual motive seems political. President Trump has suggested that Texas’s redistricting could help Republicans gain five House seats in their mission to keep control of the chamber after the 2026 midterms. Currently, Republicans have a seven-seat edge in the House, with four seats vacant.

New York’s response is the latest counterattack from Democratic-led states and organizations…notably California.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state would follow its rules, but added that “all’s fair in love and war.”

“But if there’s other states violating the rules and are trying to give themselves an advantage, all I’ll say is, I’m going to look at it closely with Hakeem Jeffries,” she said last week, referring to the House minority leader.

For New York’s bill to go into effect, the State Legislature would have to pass it twice, in consecutive legislative sessions, and then voters would have to approve it in a referendum. The earliest the lines could be redrawn would be 2028.

“This is not New York firing the first shot,” said Assemblyman Micah Lasher. “It’s us saying New York shouldn’t be precluded from action if another state starts the fight…Democrats have got to stop unilaterally disarming,” he said.

***

New York State Attorney General Letitia James yesterday sought to block the Trump administration’s demand for personal information for recipients of food stamps, which James said would be used to find, harass and prosecute immigrants that need the aid to feed their children.

James and Democratic attorneys general in 19 other states have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is seeking the personal information of recipients.

Michael Gormley reports in NEWSDAY that James said the Trump administration has threatened to cut off funding for food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if a state doesn’t provide the data. The data includes Social Security numbers, addresses, family members’ names, landlords’ contact information, immigration status and medical data. The federal "SNAP data sharing guidance" made public last week follows an executive order by Republican President Donald Trump to root out what he called fraud, waste and abuse in the SNAP program, which helps the poor and working poor afford food. SNAP is a federally funded program administered by states.

The federal order states that the information will be secure. The only stated use for the data identified in the directive is to verify the eligibility of people receiving the subsidies.

The attorneys general said they believe the Trump administration wants the data to target immigrants because of past attempts to obtain data held by social service programs to identify immigrants who may be in the country illegally.

James accused the administration of "animus against immigrants and people of color" among the 2.9 million New Yorkers in the SNAP program.

***

The Hope for Depression Research...